A company already considered to be a global giant - especially in the technology sector - Google became more valuable than software behemoth Microsoft for the first time yesterday (October 1).

Some sections have stated that Google's rise is representative of the fact that focus within the technology sector has moved towards Internet advertising - such as display advertising and PPC marketing initiatives - and mobile technology. Wired.com, for example, has attributed the success of Android to Google's rise. It revealed that the operating system is featured on around two-thirds of smartphone devices shipped globally during this year's (2012) second quarter.

The search engine giant's market value stood at $249.9 billion following the close of markets yesterday. In comparison Microsoft was valued at $247.2 billion.

Microsoft saw sales of programs of software such as Office and Windows reach $30 billion in 2012. However, Google has forecast that it expects to make roughly the same amount from just its mobile division. Google's sales of adverts and online search services are also expected to bring in a considerable amount.

With Google also holding the majority share of the search engine market - Microsoft's Bing search engine sits in second position, holding just 16 per cent of traffic - this latest development is likely to be hard for Microsoft to take.